Swallowtail Shawl KAL

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Finished :D

I just finished my Swallowtail shawl. I thought it was easy going until I got to the nupps, but after some practising they weren't too difficult anymore. At one point I had to frog 3 rows (towards the end of the Peak Edging chart...) because I had made a mistake which I could not fix without frogging. But hey! It's done :)

Sorry for the lack of photos. I will post pics when I get my blocking wires!

Friday, October 27, 2006

Question about Misti Alpaca Laceweight

Hi everyone. Here's my Swallowtail in progress, along with a couple of other things. It is coming along nicely--a very pleasant stitch pattern to knit.

For those of you who have used the Misti Alpaca Laceweight, or a similar yarn: do you feel there's enough in the skein to increase the number of repeats without running out of yarn? I'm trying to decide if I should follow the pattern as written or try making a larger shawl. But I only have one skein.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Swallowtail Done!

After 1 month + 1 day I give you a completed Swallowtail!

It really shouldn't have taken me that long, but I was distracted by other things... (knitting ADD, you understand). Here are the specs:

Yarn: KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud in TidePool, 1 hankNeedles: size 3 Clover wooden circulars (24")Finished Dimensions: 60" across the top, 28" top to pointTime to Complete: 31 daysMods: Nope! Other than the different needle size and yarn, I did it exactly as written, fiddly beginning and crazy nupps and all! I had to use a tiny dpn to do the nupps.

I would definately make this again, perhaps making it in a slightly thicker yarn and perhaps adding the extra rows as has been blogged about to make it bigger. It is definately cobwebby-lacey, and I anticipate not being too warm! Great for spring or fall, not so good for winter. I am also considering doing it in fingerling, as I have seen some very nice ones out there in blogland... :)

New here :)

Hi! I just started knitting the Swallowtail shawl, after seeing it here, and I was just looking for a nice gift for my boyfriend's mom. The yarn I am using is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK which is really soft and knits up beautifully :) I have just started on the Lily of the Valley pattern. Is anyone else here using a thicker yarn than lace and fingering?

Monday, October 23, 2006

Waiting to start

My name is Paula and I am from Portugal, so don't mind my english ;O)

This is my first lace project and the first time I have join a KAL.

Since the world of lace is new to me I decided to use the yarn that the patterns calls for. But it is taking so long to arrive ( backorder ) that at the moment I'm just experimenting with some fingering yarn from a LYS (the white and the lighter green) and some Jaeger Matchmaker merino 4 ply #741. But I'm not certain if lace works well in these yarns ... so I will probably keep on knitting with the Jaeger untill the Misti Alpaca doesn't arrive.

Monday, October 16, 2006

Want to join?

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Swallowtail Languishes

Alright, I should have been finished with Swallowtail a long time ago, considering how much progress I made it its early days. But, things happen, and then you miss one deadline, and then another... Right now I am in Round 4 of the Lily of the Valley Border 2, which means 22 rows to go (I think). One difficulty I am having is that the nupps are super tight! I am using bamboo circulars, and the points are not that pointy, but I like using them for laceweight yarn (it doesn't fly off the needles at every opportunity). I know I am wrapping the yarn too tight, but I can't seem to stop! I have ended up using one of my tiny size 00 dpns to knit the nupps. It is no problem using this method, but it does take longer since I have to switch needles every time I come to a nupp. Ah, well, it's too late to switch methods now!